Education, Training and Capacity-Building in the Field of Biological Invasions in South Africa

Abstract

Our changing relationship with the biosphere is one of many anxieties that human society currently confronts. The paradox that some biodiversity that has been moved across the planet by human trade could actually be harmful is unknown to many people. They are either oblivious, or perceive nature as being under threat, rather than as threatening in itself. Consequently workers in the field of invasion science widely acknowledge the need to inform the public about the subtleties surrounding the movement and control of invasive alien species, where some biodiversity can be bad or good, depending on our immediate relationship with those particular organisms. The aspects of South African science and environmental education reviewed for this chapter reveal broad-scale efforts to explain the impacts and intricacies of invasive species; these range from inclusion in school and university curricula, through to exposure on primetime television. Nevertheless, other surveys show that many people remain unaware of the issues around invasive species. Several South African awareness projects reviewed in this chapter conclude that more needs to be done, including further assessment of people's knowledge of and attitudes to invaders. Use of citizen science, as a mechanism for both data

Biological Invasions in South Africa: An Overview

“…24). Chapter 25 covers education, training and capacity-building (Byrne et al 2020). Currently, South Africa has strong legislation that supports management, but the capacity to enforce it is low.…”

A chronicle of alien medicinal plants used as traditional medicine in South Africa, and their status as invasive species

“…A risk assessment of the invasive potential of the remaining species should be undertaken (as per recommendations of (Kumschick et al, 2012(Kumschick et al, , 2020Kumschick and Richardson, 2013), accompanied by application of the existing regulations governing the movement of such species. Clearly, greater public awareness of the impacts of alien weeds on South African society is needed (Byrne et al, 2020;Reynolds et al, 2020), accompanied by regulations that are widely considered to be equitable and just (Wilson et al, 2020). Given the projections for increased trade and globalisation (Faulkner et al, 2020) and the findings presented here and in other research on alien species in South African traditional medicine, it is clear that the country must move rapidly towards implementable legislation with clear goals for alien control (Lukey and Hall, 2020), which include effective prevention measures.…”

South Africa’s Centre for Invasion Biology: An Experiment in Invasion Science for Society

“…The contribution of Iimbovane as a vehicle for information brokerage on invasive species issues to schools is discussed in Chap. 25 (Byrne et al 2020).…”

“…30.4). A smaller number of alumni are now working in universities, NGOs and government agencies in other African countries (seeByrne et al 2020; Fig. 25.1).…”